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The Trump Administration is expected to initiate an administrative process this week likely intended to undo protections for public lands in the California desert and allow more large-scale renewable energy projects and mining. A notice of intent filed by the Department of Interior indicates that its plans to weaken the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) are driven by unspecified "public concerns," but particularly states that Interior wants to review limitations that the DRECP places on large-scale renewable energy projects, including wind, solar and geothermal. The DRECP was finalized in 2016 after a lengthy public comment and review process that involved extensive consultation between the Department of Interior and State of California.

Undermining our Desert Backcountry

The DRECP was initially implemented in response to significant public concern sparked by industry proposals for renewable energy projects that would have destroyed vast swaths of desert wil…

The Department of Interior on Tuesday released the final environmental impact statement for the first phase of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), which significantly alters the land use planning for public lands administered by Interior in the California desert. Although the final version expands conservation designations that were popular in the draft DRECP, it also seems to introduce uncertainty for nearly 802,000 acres of "unallocated" lands that are neither part of conservation nor a development designation. The public has 30 days to submit any concerns regarding the final draft before it is made official by a Record of Decision.

Subtle Change Has Significant Impacts

If you looked at the draft DRECP released for public comment late last year you probably paid attention to where large-scale energy development would be allowed, and where it would not. After all, it is the added threat posed by utility-scale energy development to public lands that pro…

The Renewable Energy Action Team (REAT) agencies announced this week that they would adopt a phased approach to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) in response to widespread concern about the proposed endangered species permitting mechanism and conflict with county land use plans. Under this approach, the more contentious aspects of the DRECP will be further refined after additional consultation with the counties and rolled out at a later date.

The first phase will amend the land use planning for Federal lands in the California desert, establishing both conservation and development focus areas. The second phase will establish development areas on private lands as well as the streamlined permitting process for renewable energy projects under State and Federal Endangered Species Acts. Reactions to the phased approach range from concern to relief.

Will Desert Conservation Move Forward?

How well the first phase is received will depend largely on
whether or not the B…

When I was a kid growing up in Victorville watching jets taking off from now-closed George Air Force Base, I didn't know that some of them were probably bombing a 12 square mile patch of desert in California known as the Cuddeback Air Force Bomb and Gunnery Range. The U.S. Air Force gave up the Cuddeback range in August 2012, but the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is still figuring out whether it is "suitable for public use." The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) does not designate the Cuddeback range as either a development focus area or a conservation area, even thought it is immediately adjacent to two wilderness areas, and probably serves as important habitat for the desert tortoise and Mojave ground squirrel.

The Google map above shows the approximate boundaries of the former Cuddeback Air Force Range. The DRECP does not recognize the range as BLM land, even though Department of Interior testimony acknowledged that the U.S. Air Force relinquished …

Online industry magazine Renewable Energy World declared in a recent article that the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) "kneecaps" the renewable energy industry, inaccurately arguing that 3,162 square miles of development focus areas is not enough for the industry. This is my attempt to deconstruct the article's overall lack of understanding of the DRECP and the state of renewable energy in the California desert:

Claim 1:The energy industry will be handicapped by the DRECP because 80 percent of the development focus areas are on private lands, and it is too difficult for the industry to acquire and develop private lands:

Response: This is not consistent with facts on the ground. There are nearly 4,000 megawatts of wind and solar projects approved, under construction or operational on non-federal lands in the DRECP area, indicating that industry has easily acquired and developed private lands. These include projects with a capacity of hundreds of megaw…

Although it is not yet clear why the company withdrew the wind project application, local expression of concern regarding the fate of the beautiful Juniper Flats likely sent a strong signal to the developer - E.ON Climate and Renewables - that they faced an uphill battle. Local concern also prompted opposition to the project …

My last couple of Spotlights focused on how the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan designates areas where large-scale renewable energy projects will be considered and fast-tracked, including development focus areas (DFAs), special analysis areas, and future assessment areas. In an attempt to balance this destruction with conservation, the DRECP also identifies lands to be protected from various forms of destruction. The types of DRECP conservation designations for lands in the California
desert vary depending on whether the land is
administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or private (non-federal).

BLM Conservation Designations

While the DRECP bestows conservation designations on some key BLM lands in the California desert, the designations may not be very durable because they can be lifted in a future revision of a BLM land use plan. This is particularly troubling because the projects built on DFAs will leave their mark on the landscape and ecosystem for genera…

The draft Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan identifies 2,024,000 acres (3,162 square miles) of "development focus areas" (DFA) in the preferred alternative. Of that total, 367,000 acres (573 square miles) are on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). I wrote yesterday about the assumptions that were used to come up with this many acres of DFAs.

DFAs By County:
The following numbers include a both private and BLM-administered lands. Imperial
County shoulders the heaviest DFA burden at 734,000 acres (1,146 square
miles), followed by San Bernardino County at 399,000 acres (623 square
miles), Kern County at 360,000 acres (562 square miles), Riverside
County at 268,000 acres (418 square miles), Los Angeles County at
218,000 acres (340 square miles), and Inyo County at 45,000 acres (70
square miles).

This is an important number in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). The State and Federal agencies that drafted the DRECP start with the assumption that the California desert region may need to host at least 20,000 megawatts of large-scale wind, solar or geothermal energy projects by the year 2040. Based on this assumption, the DRECP agencies calculated how many acres would need to be designated as development focus areas (DFAs) to accommodate these 20,000 megawatts.
This is what the DRECP does not mention: a study by the UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation calculated that the
rooftops in Los Angeles County alone could accommodate over 22,000 megawatts of solar panels. As I pointed out in my earlier post on the DRECP, the plan unfortunately discarded an alternative that would consist only of distributed generation (solar panels on rooftops, over parking lots, and other spaces in our cities). The DRECP's purpose and need statement (Volume I.1)
makes it …

Golden eagles soar over the Mojave Desert. We know that wind turbines and golden eagles do not mix well. Solar power towers - like those that BrightSource and NRG built in the Ivanpah Valley - can burn eagles alive. And sprawling photovoltaic solar plants can destroy the wildlands where golden eagles like to forage for food. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is responsible for monitoring the status of the golden eagle, and determining whether or not any industry - including the renewable energy industry - is permitted to "take" (harass or kill) golden eagles. (Note: the golden eagle is not an endangered species, but it is protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act)

The draft Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) was released at the end of September, almost 34 years after the Department of Interior finalized its original plan for managing the vast and beautiful California Desert Conservation Area. With nearly 8,000 pages and extensive reformulation of land use policies throughout 22 million acres of California, the DRECP will take a while to digest and formulate thorough comments. This plan will shape the future of one of the largest intact ecosystems remaining in the lower 48 United States, so it will be worth the time to review and provide input.

By the Numbers - Energy Industrialization3,146 square miles: The number of square miles of "Development Focus Areas" (DFA)designated by Federal and State agencies in the preferred alternative where large-scale wind, solar, and geothermal energy development will be encouraged or fast-tracked. Although it is important to note that the DRECP does not anticipate that every acre o…